Hivemind
by HakuPluvi
Summary: Ash always dreamed of being a trainer. A team of Giants and Dragons powerfull enough to rule the fights. Yet his starter is something a lot... smaller than he hoped.
1. The First Step - 1

**A/N - I've been reading a lot of pokemon fanfictions recently. For a while I really wanted to try writing my own, I just suck at writing. Though that won't improve unless I actually try to write so I guess now is as good a time as any. Also I like bug types.**

**Huge inspiration from:**

**The Straight Elf's: Traveler**

**Darkfire1220's: Challenger**

**The BlackStaff and NightMarE's: Legend and Ascension**

**Hopefully I can write as good as those one day. I doubt it but hey.**

**You never know until you try.**

**Please leave a review if you like it, or even if you hate it and think it sucks. I accept all death threats and spiteful comments as possibly useful learning material.**

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

Ash Ketchum has always dreamed about this day. Well, to be fair, I'm sure almost everyone had dreamed about this day at one point in their lives. At least those he considered "normal" anyways. And what day was he always dreaming about?

Why, the day he would collect his first pokemon, of course.

Finally, the day where he would receive his first pokemon and start his pokemon journey was here, and he couldn't find it in himself to calm down. He had waited long enough, ever since the League had changed the age requirement of new trainers to 14 when he was 9 years old. Supposedly a newbie trainer at the age of 10 was unable to handle their starter, and was horrifically burned. While the child did live, the incident was well known and prompted much argument about letting young kids start their journey too young and be dangerous. Eventually, it was Cynthia who first raised the age limit in Sinnoh, before all other regions eventually followed suite to not cause any more further drama. So to Ash, these last 4 years felt like extra torture since he was forced to wait.

Of course, Ash didn't spend all that time sitting around and complaining. He, as well as Gary Oak, were already helping out Professor Oak at his lab, doing whatever little chores the old man decided to give them for the day. Small things usually, like checking up on certain pokemon or making sure the eggs in incubation were unharmed and progressing properly. Oak's ranch was well known for being a large safe space for many pokemon to come and live in, and there was always a variety of pokemon to meet and learn about.

When he wasn't helping out at Oak's, Ash was constantly learning what he could about pokemon. From simple things, like type advantages, to more slightly complicated things, like how to train your pokemon in doing combination moves. He remembered distinctly of seeing a video of Lance's Dragonite using a combination move of Dragon Rush and Thunder Punch that proved to be absolutely devastating to any opponent that it might have connected with. He had watched probably more videos on Lance and his team than was probably healthy, to be honest. He was awed by the amazing strength that his team was, all fierce and dominating dragons, each being its own formidable opponent that Ash couldn't think of anyone possibly beating. Until he of course would be the first to claim that title, and with it, becoming the champion of Kanto. He knew that right now he stood absolutely no chance of even touching Lance's title. Yet, he believed that maybe some day in the future, he would have a team of dragons himself, and would battle furiously for that champion title.

It was a huge mountain ahead of him to climb. Well, every climb starts with at least a few first steps. Tomorrow would be his.

"Ash?" He heard from his doorway. He looked up to see his mother, Delia Ketchum, standing there. "It's getting late, shouldn't you be in bed by now?"

"I know, mom." Was his quick reply. "It's just... I..." he trailed off.

"Can't sleep?" She finished with a smile. He nodded, slightly embarrassed. "I get it honey, don't worry. I was just as excited as you on my first day as well! But you need to sleep in order to wake up in time tomorrow. Wouldn't want to sleep in and miss getting a pokemon after all?" She said with a smile.

"Yeah, I know." He sighed. "I'll go to bed in a bit. Just wanted to double check everything's packed in my bag for tomorrow."

"Ash, this is the 5th time I've seen you check your bag in the past few hours!" Was his Mom's reply. "Everything is still there, and will be tomorrow. I should be the nervous one of you leaving, not you!"

"Alright! Alright... I'll go to bed now." Ash relented. He put his bag on his night table, before getting into his bed to sleep for tomorrow. "Goodnight mom!"

"Goodnight, sweetie." She said, as she turned off the lights to his room before leaving closing the door. He tried to fall asleep then, but his mind kept drifting to thoughts of tomorrow. He knew what the three Kanto starters would be. What his choices for tomorrow would be. Yet he was still largely undecided.

First was Bulbasaur. The Grass-Type choice. A strong choice that was known for their exceptional use of vine whip, razor leaf and status effect moves that it could produce in the bulb on it's back. It would eventually evolve into a monstrous sized Venosaur, where it would be able to control a battlefield with ease using its vines and plants that it could control.

Then there was Squirtle. The Water-Type. A sturdy turtle pokemon that was known for their hard shell and good defensive capabilities. That's not to say it wasn't powerful as well. With it's strong water propellant abilities, and sharp claws, it would be a force to reckon with. When it evolved to its final form as a Blastoise, it's shell would be extremely hard to penetrate, and that cannon on it's back certainly wasn't just for show.

Finally, the last choice was Charmander. The Fire-Type. A fire breathing lizard with a strong tail flame. It, with its razor sharp claws, and powerful inner flames would be a deadly fighter if trained properly. When evolved fully into a Charizard, it would grow wings and be able to rule the skies as a dragon. Though only in name and not as a type, its draconic abilities would still be nothing to laugh at.

All three would be a good choice for a starter. Each powerful in their own rights, and he still had no idea what to pick. So instead, he would let his rivals decide. He knew that tomorrow both Gary Oak and Leaf Green would be starting their journey at the same time as him.

Gary was an arrogant person, always believing himself to be better than Ash and Leaf. While they were friends at first, his arrogance only got worse over time, to the point where Ash could no longer take it. At first Ash had been hot-blooded as well, constantly picking fights and yelling back at the boy. Over time, he realized that nothing would get through Gary's head, so he eventually just became numb to the insults, and ignored Gary's constant teasing.

Leaf on the other hand, was a delight to be around. She was friendly, and the two of them got along quite well. The two would often help each other while at Oak's lab, and would often adventure together in the woods looking for pokemon. That of course got them into more trouble than most, but despite cuts and bruises they were always giggling amongst themselves.

Ash let out a sigh. He shook his head before finally forcing his eyes closed and trying to fall asleep. He could think about this tomorrow after all.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

When Ash walked up to the lab the next morning at 8:55, he wasn't surprised to see Gary and Leaf already outside the front doors. He was, however, surprised to see a third familiar face waiting with them too.

Gary was standing off by himself, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently. He was dressed in a purple t-shirt and blue sweatpants, standing at 5'8" with brown spiky hair. He had a grey backpack slung over his shoulder

Leaf was chatting animatedly to the other girl, dressed in a light blue tank top, with a red skirt. Her light brown hair was shoulder length with a white hat with a red pokeball symbol on top, standing at 5'6". She also had a yellow backpack slung over her shoulder.

The last girl he recognized as Yellow Woods. She had her bright blonde hair in a ponytail, with a large sun hat sitting atop it. She had a black and yellow sundress on, with black pants and purple boots to finish the ensemble. She herself was quite small, standing only at 5'3". With her was a blue bag slung over her back.

Gary was the first to notice his arrival. Instantly a smirk was on his face as he announced: "So the loser finally decides to show up! And of course he's the last to come as well. Just like he'll be the last place among all of us!"

Ash rolled his eyes at that, but didn't rise to the bait. He instead walked over to the two girls, joining into their conversation. He heard Gary give off a sneer before turning back to the doors, once again tapping his foot in impatience.

"Hey Ash! Nice to finally see you here!" Leaf said. "I fully expected you to sleep in and miss it!"

Ash let out a chuckle at that. "As if I would ever sleep in on a day so important like this!" Turning to Yellow, he let his surprise show. "I didn't know you were starting today Yellow. I thought you said you didn't want to be came a trainer?"

Yellow's face instantly became red as she stammered out "W-Well, I thought I m-might as well try it out and see..." Before she turned her head away from him, looking anywhere but at his eyes. At this Ash looked mildly uncomfortable. He knew that Yellow had a small crush on him. It was obvious, as any time Ash was nearby, she would turn into a blushing stuttering mess. He didn't see himself as that attractive, standing the same height as Gary at 5'8", with black hair. He was wearing a white t-shirt with a blue vest, with jeans and a red baseball cap. While Ash found it flattering, they were young, and he wasn't really looking for a relationship at the moment.

"I totally _told_ you that she would show up today!" Leaf cried out.

"Well you were right, I didn't expect it at all." was Ash's reply. At that moment was when the doors to the lab to creak open before all eyes turned to see Professor Oak standing in the open doorway, a big smile on his face.

"Welcome, new trainers, to the wonderful world of pokemon! Today you will be-"

"Can it gramps." Gary interrupted. "We get the spheal. We've waited long enough. Let us get our pokemon already!"

Instead of looking upset like he should, the professor just chuckled. "Way to ruin an old man's fun. I had a whole speech prepared and everything!" before sighing in an exaggerated movement. Then from behind him, he pulled out four different colored pokedexes. One red, blue, green and yellow in color. "Alright. Everyone grab a pokedex. I'm sure you can tell which is yours by color. This will help you in both identifying pokemon, and as your ID. Though you should try to memorize your trainer ID already if you haven't." All for quickly walked forwards to grab their pokedexes with big smiles on their face. "You all know how they work already, with me teaching you while you were here so I'll skip the lecture. Now, everyone inside. Time to get your starters!"

They all let out a cheer before walking into the lab. Inside was bookcases filled with books, various instruments and screens all about the large main room. Before they saw it. The table with pokeballs on top of it.

Three pokeballs to be specific.

"Uhh... sir? There are only three pokeballs on the table." Ash spoke hesitantly.

"Yes.. well... With Yellow registering last minute, I wasn't quite as prepared as I like to be. So unfortunately, one of you will not be getting a Kanto starter." Oak said nervously. "You will have to decide amongst yourselves to see who-"

"Not happening!" Shouted Gary. Without waiting, he walked up to the table and grabbed the ball with a water droplet on it. "I waited long enough, I'm not waiting any longer!" Before releasing the pokemon held within. Out of the red light formed a small blue turtle, holding himself with a smug attitude. "Sup. I'm Gary Oak. You're my starter pokemon. Ready to rock the Indigo league?" He asked with a smirk. The blue turtle stared up at him, its eyes searching for something. It nodded its head with a small sound of approval, before Gary turned to the other three. "That's me sorted. I'll be waiting outside for our first battle, Ketchum." He let out one final cackle before walking out the doors.

The elder Oak let out a sigh. "Always the impatient one, he is. Well, I'm sure you three can be more mature about this than he is."

The remaining three all looked at eachother, all hesitant. Yellow opened her mouth, about to speak before Ash let out a loud sigh. "You two go ahead. Ladies first and all that."

Yellow looked upset. "A-Are you sure? It's my fault for registering late in the first place. I should be at fault." Leaf merely stayed silent and looked at him.

Ash shook his head. "It's fine. Whatever I get for my starter doesn't matter anyways. I'm sure Professor Oak will find me something just as good."

Yellow still looked hesitant, but nodded slightly. "I-If you're sure."

Oak smiled at that. "Thank you for being so mature about this Ash. I'm sure I won't disappoint you with what I can find."

The two girls looked at eachother, before Yellow nodded at Leaf to go first. Leaf walked up to the two remaining balls, looking carefully at both, before selecting the one with her namesake on it in green. She released the pokemon, the blue and green amphibian with red eyes looking around before staring at the trainer with his ball. "Hey there. I'm Leaf, and I'm your trainer. Will that be okay with you?" She spoke softly. The Bulbasaur merely looked carefully at here before nodding in acceptance. The brunette immediately squealed before dropping to her knees and hugging the starter. The Bulbasaur at first stiffened up, before nuzzling softly into the contact, before being returned to its ball. "You're up Yellow!"

Taking her cue, the blonde walked up slowly to the remaining ball, before releasing the pokemon within. The orange lizard looked around, letting out a small noise on release. Once again its eyes rested on their trainer, before both it and Yellow tilted their heads towards each other. "H-Hi." She started nervously. "I'm Yellow, your trainer from now on. I-Is that fine?" The Charmander looked more than okay with this, nodding happily before walking up and hugging her leg, making Yellow squeak in surprise. She smiled before rubbing the lizards head, before returning them to their ball.

"I'm glad to see that went well for the both of you!" Oak said, a large smile on his face. "Ash, if you can stay behind, I'll look for a pokemon I think would be a good starter for you." And with that, he nodded at the two girls before leaving towards one of the back rooms.

"We'll be outside, getting to know our pokemon." Said Leaf excitedly. She grabbed yellow before pulling the confused girl out of the lab, leaving Ash alone in the room. It wasn't for a couple minutes before the professor returned, carrying a pokeball.

"Found this little guy inside the lab, chewing on some wires. I'm sure he would be a decent starter. I'm sure the two of you will end up being great friends!" Said the elder Oak, before handing the pokeball over to Ash. He quickly released the pokemon within.

Out of the red light came a small yellow mouse, with red cheeks and a zigzag tail. Ash immediately recognized the pokemon as a Pikachu. He also instantly recognized the pure distaste it had for both humans currently looking at it. "Hey." He spoke up. The mouse's eyes focused on him. "My name's Ash Ketchum. I'm gonna be a pokemon master one day and take the league by storm. Interested?" The mouse looked at him, before Ash quickly noticed the small sparks building on its cheeks. On instinct, Ash quickly dove to the side before hearing a large **_*Crack*_ **and seeing a yellow bolt of lightning strike where he just stood previously. The Pikachu's cheeks started sparking again, and this time Ash on the floor had no time to dodge. He closed his eyes prepared before-

And then he heard the distinct noise of a pokeball returning a pokemon. He opened his eyes to see Oak's eyes glaring dangerously at the pokeball in his hands, before looking at Ash with clear guilt in his eyes. "I'm sorry, my boy. I thought it would be more well behaved after I caught it. Clearly I was wrong."

Ash was breathing heaving on the floor, before he shook his head to clear his thoughts. "It's fine sir. Though..." He looked up nervously. "You wouldn't happen to have another pokemon I could have, do you?"

The Oak looked at him, before laughing loudly. "Yes, of course. I'll go look for something else."

He said, before once again retreating to the back room. It was another five minutes or so, before the Professor came back out, his eyebrows furrowed. "I found something, but... I'm not sure how you'll take it."

At this Ash looked confused. "What do you mean? Is it that bad?"

The Professor shook his head before looking at Ash's eyes. "I know you've always had big dreams of having a team of giants. So compared to that, this one's a bit... small."

Ash just shook his head. "That's fine. I'm sure whatever it is will become powerful in its own right." He took the ball from him, before releasing the pokemon from its confinement. And out came a small, white worm with a spike body. Two tiny mandibles sticking out of its head, with two black beady eyes. Ash knew what this was.

This was a Snom. An Ice/Bug-Type from the Galar region. Ash looked back up to Professor Oak but the old man just looked a bit nervous. "I know that bug types are generally calmer with you so I just figured..." He spoke before trailing off.

Ash was only just a bit offended. Bug types were typically considered the weakest type. An Ice/Bug would be 4x weak to fire and rock, along side its other weaknesses already. But Ash looked at the bug, and how it already looked like it accepted Ash as its trainer, it making happy clicks before crawling over to him. Bug types typically swarmed to Ash for some reason. As a younger kid, it terrified him when a beedrill would fly out from the woods before landing nearby. Beedrill were know to be extremely territorial and easy to aggravate, but they would just... hang around Ash. He would nod in their direction and the bug would nod back. They even seemed to defend him from any other pokemon that would come by.

He thought it just a weird anomaly at first. But he never mentioned any specifics to anyone. Oak had only seen how the Scyther and Buterfree would be noticeably calmer about Ash caring for them rather than Gary or even Leaf and Yellow.

Ash looked at the bug currently at his leg, looking up at him for permission, before letting out a sigh and nodding. The bug clicked happily before climbing up his leg and crawling up to his shoulder. And boy was it cold on it's way up. He let out a small shiver when it crawled on it's back before reaching his perch.

Oak looked at him, before nodding. "Very well. It seems both of you have accepted each other as a partner. Your pokedexes have been filled with the national information already, so you should be fine. I wish you good luck on your journey Ash." With that he took his leave. Suddenly he paused. He looked back at ash before adding. "Also, please don't tell your mother about the Pikachu incident" He pleaded. Ash just glared before chuckling darkly and walking away.

/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\

"_That's your starter_?" Shouted Gary, laughing loudly. "I knew you were _bad_, Ketchum, but I expected at least something better than a _bug_ for a starter!"It seemed Gary's Squirtle agreed, it seeming to laugh along side its trainer. "Do we even need to battle? I'm sure I would stomp you easily." He cackled.

Ash was about to walk away, but it seemed like Snom had other ideas. It clicked angrily at the duo, before jumping off of Ash's shoulder and stancing up in front of him. This just caused Gary to laugh even harder. "Are you sure?" Ash asked his starter. It turned to nod at him before turning back to the Squirtle.

Gary finally stopping his laughter, looked over. "Sure, might as well take a free win if you're just handing it over." Squirtle stood up and prepared for battle. Ash quickly took out his pokedex to scan his starter.

_Snom. The worm pokemon. _

_It spits out thread imbued with a frigid sort of energy and uses it to tie its body to branches, disguising an icicle while it sleeps. It eats snow that piles up on the ground. The more snow it eats, the bigger and more impressive the spikes on its back grow. _

_Gender: Male _

_Ability: Ice Scales _

_Nature: Rash _

_Known moves: Powder Snow, Struggle Bug _

_Egg moves: Fairy Wind, Mirror Coat, Bug Bite _

Ash's eyes widened. That was a really good moveset. Having three egg moves was amazing. He looked back up to his Snom, who was more than prepared to fight for his trainers honor.

Gary was the first to move. "Squirtle, use Water Gun. It's just a bug, should be easy to knock out!" His starter obliged, shooting out a jet of water.

"Dodge it, and use Powder Snow!" Snom tried to dodge, but he couldn't roll out of the way due to the spikes on his back. The jet slammed into him, pushing him back but the bug held strong, some of its icy spines getting broken in the blast. He shot out a breath of icy snow toward the Squirtle, which slammed into the turtle, covering it in a small layer of frost.

"Squirtle, close in and use tackle!" The turtle shook off the cold, and rushed at Snom.

"Use your thread on the ground and pull yourself out of the way! Then use Fairy Wind!" The bug did exactly that, shooting a quick thread to the nearby floor, then pulling itself away to dodge. Mid slide it cut the rope and readjusted its aim, and this time instead of ice, a pink shimmer shot out and slammed into Squirtle's shell, knocking him back. Squirtle slipped on the ice, falling backwards onto its shell. "Squirtle! Get up and use Water Gun!" Screamed a desperate Gary.

"Don't let it! Shoot a thread at it, and pull yourself towards it, then use Bug Bite!" Yelled Ash

"Withdraw! Defend quickly!"

With conflicting orders, Squirtle hesitated, just long enough for Snom to fire a cold, sticky thread, which he then pulled with all its might with its tiny body and flew towards Squirtle. The turtle, unable to react fast enough, brought its arms above its face to protect against Snom, who snapped his pincers and aimed for his head.

"Squirtle! Return!"

A red beam of light snapped out and absorbed Squirtle before Snom's bite could land. It instead landed on the small pile of snow caused by his move. The bug bristled, before moving back to Ash and standing proud in front of him.

"You got lucky!" Gary yelled. "If my pokemon also had overpowered egg moves, I would have wiped the floor with you as well! Anyways, smell ya later, loser!" With that, the boy ran off towards his house. Ash let out a loud sigh. "Even when he loses he still thinks himself better, huh?" He spoke aloud to his partner, who merely looked up and clicked softly at him. Ash bent down and rubbed the top of his head. "Great job, buddy! You really know your stuff huh?" The bug nuzzled his head happily into his hand, before crawling up his arm and perching once again on his shoulder. "Like the view from up here, eh?" A nod was his response. "Anyways I wonder where-"

"Ash!" Leaf's voice was heard. He turned to see Leaf and Yellow approaching him, their pokemon loyally following. "We saw your battle with Gary! Way to finally take him down a peg!"

Yellow nodded her head. "Y-yeah, your pokemon was great! Speaking of.. what is it?" She asked, tilting her head.

"This is a Snom." Ash said. The snom clicked happily towards them, the Charmander giving its own greeting while Bulbasaur merely nodded. "He's an ice/bug type from Galar."

"He's so cute!" Gushed Leaf. "Anyways, me and Yellow are gonna talk to our parents, then head out towards Viridian city. Want to come along with us?"

Ash looked at them, before shaking his head. "No thanks, I kind of wanted to take the time to bond with Snom here alone. Sorry." He said, softly rubbing the pokemons head. Leaf merely shook her head.

"It's fine, we understand. Good luck!" She said, before grabbing Yellow's arm. Yellow managed to stutter out an apology and a quick goodbye before Leaf took her away.

He watched them leave before turning to his partner. "Well, it's just you and me now. We're going to go give one last goodbye to my mother, then we'll start on the road. You ready?" The bug gave a quick nod. Then they were off.

/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\

"Oh, he's so precious!" His mom cooed. She was lightly patting the bug on his head, who clicked happily at her. His mother's Mr. Mime waved and made a cheerful noise at it, before continuing to sweep the inside of the house. "What's his name?"

"I haven't given him one yet." Ash admitted. "I have a couple of ideas though. I'll decide later today when we camp out for the night." He pulled out some ice cubes, and shaved it down onto the table for Snom. It cheerly ate into the shavings, his shattered spikes from the water gun already growing slightly back. He heard his mom let out a sigh.

"I knew this day was coming, but... Are you sure you want to go?" His mom asked.

"Yeah." He replied. "It's been my dream for so long. You know that."

"I know." She said sadly. "And I wouldn't ever dream of stopping you. But you better make sure you call atleast once a week, under stand me young man?"

"I will! Unless I travel through a mountain or something, but I'll let you know about that before hand, okay?"

"Okay. I love you, honey."

"I love you too." He replied. He let his arm down, and Snom took his cue to ride up his arm, taking his now usual spot on his right shoulder. "Bye mom!"

"Bye honey! And make sure to always change your und-"

"MOM!"

/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\

"As much as I want to give you a free ride, buddy, you're going to have to walk at least some of the trip to get some workout in." A series of distressed clicks was his answer. "How else will you get stamina training in?" This argument went on for several minutes, before Snom finally gave up and hopped off of Ash's shoulder. A few annoyed clicks signified that he was _not_ happy about losing his favourite perch.

"It's fine, it won't be for long. Plus you can be ready to defend me from any more pokemon that show up!" A quick look and Ash swore he saw his starter sigh. Can bugs even sigh? A question for another time he supposed.

They were already a couple hours into their trip from Pallet town. Snom had already battled against the few Pidgey and Ratatta that tried to take on the bug type. However, it seems the bug had very good instincts to work with. With its ability to move around vastly lacking, it had instead taken a shine to shooting its thread around and pulling or swinging it's way around. He was also quite precise with its aim, able to try and take shots while flying midair, before restringing another thread to keep on the move. Honestly it was quite amusing watching the little bug fight like that. He chuckled as he remembered the first Pidgey and the shock that came with it when the Snom swung through the air before blasting it with a Powder Snow.

Another thing he would have to take note of is to find some source of creating snow. As stated in the pokedex, the more snow that the bug would eat, the bigger and more jagged the spikes on its back would become. Eating snow would also help them regenerate faster. While they would grow out to a certain point on their own after a certain time, they would be a lot shorter than if he were to grow them through eating. Though, he noted that they probably grew more as the bug got stronger and closer towards his evolution. Surprisingly, there was very little information found on evolving a Snom. He knew that they would evolve into Frosmoth, but he didn't know how. If he needed a stone, a certain item like Steelix need metal coat, or if it was just through experience. Ash just sighed and filed that away for future Ash's problem to deal with. Right now Snom was young and just starting out. Evolution will come in time, even if bug types usually evolve sooner.

After the few hours of travelling, they arrived at a small clearing on Route 1. "Alright buddy, we're gonna take a break here." Ash told his starter, who let out a content clicking noise and curled up on the floor. Ash let out a snicker before also putting his bag down and beginning to set up camp. Something that every trainer should have learned was basic survival needs before being allowed to become a trainer. Ash was quite excellent at doing tasks like making a fire or setting up a tent for the night. Not that they were particularly difficult skills but he patted himself on the back for that one. As he started to collect tinder for a fire, he pulled out his pokedex to quickly check the map. "We're probably about halfway there to viridian city. It says it should be about a days worth of travel from Pallet to get there, and we made a decent pace, even with your slow walking." He got an angry shout for that one, or atleast a clicking equivalent. "Anyways, I was thinking about finally giving you a nickname. That is, if you wanted one anyways." A quick nod was his reaction to that. "Good because I've got a couple of ideas for you, all based around the ice theme you got going on. Though I'm sure you don't want to be named something simple like Frost right?"

Snom simply looked at him before making a clicking sound that... didn't really sound like a confirmation or a denial. "Really? You would be fine being named _Frost_? Not something else like Glacier or Shiva?" Again he got the same noise. It seemed like the Snom was more than happy with whatever name that Ash would come up with. He let out a chuckle. "You know what, fine. Ruin all my brainstorming of names and we'll go with Frost. Sounds good buddy?" A nod and an excited click, and the newly named Frost quickly climbed to his perch and carefully nuzzled his face onto his. "Yeah, yeah. Now get down so I can get your pokefood for you." The bug happily obliged, as Ash went into his bag to search for the bowl and pokefood he had packed. Before he was able to get it out, he was interrupted by several warning clicks, accompanied by a loud screech of challenge.

Turning around, he saw Frost staring up at a branch in the trees. Ash had faced many Pidgey and even one Pidgeotto had tried its luck before begrudgingly leaving after a hard fought battle. But this wasn't a Pidgey stalking them. Afterall, a Pidgey wasn't orange, white and black. Up in the trees, he saw what he assumed to be a Fletchinder staring down at Frost with a gleam in its eyes, prepared for battle. Before Ash could open his mouth to give a command, the bird _screeched_ before hopping off the tree and diving at Frost, beak glowing white in what he assumed was Peck. The bug was prepared however, and fired off a Powder Snow to dissuade the bird's approach. It didn't work however, as the bird tanked the hit, diving through the cold winds and nailing the attack on Frost, knocking it back and dealing a significant hit.

"Frost! Are you alright?" Ash asked. The bug merely clicked an affirmative, never once taking its eyes off the bird now circling in the skies, a small layer of frost coating its feathers from the previous attack. This left Ash mostly confused. A Fletchinder is Fire/Flying, most of the frost should have melted off by now. Which meant.

"That's still a Fletchling, your Powder Snow will still be effective against it! Try to bring the fight into the trees nearby, and hit it whenever you can!" The bug nodded, before shooting a thread at a nearby tree and quickly pulling itself up into the branches. From there he could see short bursts of cold wind being shot towards the bird, who was nimbly dodging between them gracefully. Then suddenly, its speed increased and charged at the bug, who was only able to barely dodge by jumping off the branch it was perched on before shooting a thread and swinging safely to the ground. The birds attack never let up, though, merely circling back and charging once again with its beak glowing white. This time, the bug had no time to swing out of the way and was once again struck by the attack, being knocked back once again.

"Frost!" Ash screamed. This wasn't looking good for them. Frost had no good way of landing a hit against a target moving that fast yet. He needed to think of a way to either slow down the bird, or get Frost a clear hit. An idea came to mind, an admittedly bad idea, but he had no other real options. "Frost, next time it charges, shoot a thread and pull yourself towards it and use Bug Bite! Then try to hit it with Powder Snow!" The bug didn't hesitate when the Fletchling charged in with another Peck. With its target coming in a straight line, he shot out his thread, and pulled himself straight into the line of fire. This caught the bird off guard, who cancelled its attack in shock before being slammed into and feeling Frost bite _hard_ into its crest. It screeched in pain before thrashing violently to try and throw the bug off. As soon as Frost let go he blasted a Powder Snow as hard as he could into the wing of the bird, coating its right wing with a hard layer of frost and snow. With only one usable wing, the bird barelled downwards and crashed into the floor, Frost landing nearby. The bird wouldn't be put down that easy, however. it bounced back to its feet and let out a screech before turning to its frozen wing. It opened its mouth and tried to breath out what Ash assumed an Ember at it to thaw it out, but the move came out more like small cinders, barely shooting out any real flame. It however was working, although slowly. As it opened its mouth to try again, Ash shouted out: "Use Fairy Wind to finish it before it can thaw out its wing!" His partner wasted no time before once again shooting out misty pink winds from its mouth, blasting the Fletchinder into a tree nearby and knocking it out. Ash took his chance and threw out a pokeball, watching as it landed and the bird was transformed into red light sucked into the ball. Even unconscious, the bird struggled in the ball, refusing to be caught without a fight. But after a couple seconds that felt like hours to Ash, the ball sealed shut. Ash let out his breath he didn't realize he was holding in, before walking over and picking up the ball, a huge smile on his face the whole time. "We did it Frost! We caught a pokemon!" The bug clicked happily, and Ash saw how exhausted he was, almost all the spikes on his back not at full size. "Maybe now we can finally have that break, and we can eat."

Ash had did it. He caught a pokemon. Though the capture did leave a lot to be answered. Like why was there a Fletchinder here in Kanto and not in Kalos where they were native. Why was the bird as large as it was, being the size of its evolution, yet unable to use an ember to signify being close to said evolution. Normal Fletchlings will come up around 1', but this one was already around 2'. Questions he would have to ask later he supposed. Inwardly he let out a laugh, him being a Kanto born native, yet his team consisting of two non Kanto pokemon. He wondered if this would end up being a trend. By the end of his journey, he would face the league with zero Kanto pokemon. His inward monologue was broken by a cold wind being blow on his legs as he shivered and looked down to see an impatient Frost waiting beside the food bowl he had left out. "Right, sorry buddy. Was lost in my own thoughts there. Let's actually grab some food now and I can get you a potion afterwards." Frost nodded gratefully.

Half an hour later, both Ash and Frost had been fed, and the bug received a potion for his injuries from the fight with the bird, they were ready to start their journey to Viridian city once again. Though before that, Ash wanted to release the Fletchling to get to know it better, and to give it a couple potions before they made it to the pokemon centre later today. "Be ready, just in case." He told his starter. "We don't know if they're going to be hostile or not." With that he released the bird from the pokeball.

As it formed, it looked around confused before locking eyes with Ash. It looked ever and opened its wings to look intimidating, but Ash merely snorted. "Hey. I caught you. You know what this means, right?" The annoyed look in its eyes meant it did, but it nodded anyways. "I know you probably didn't want to be caught, but you were the one who attacked Frost first. And lost too might I add." The bird screeched angrily at that, but in its injured and tired state, it posed no real threat. "I'm trying to become a Pokemon Master, and win the league. I've seen your speed and I think you are strong. But I can help make you better. But for that you'll need to work with me. And Frost as well. Think you can do that?" At that the bird paused and looked contemplative. Its eyes turned towards the small bug, Frost's eyes showing nothing that the bird could use. Still, there was some respect to be found in both the trainer and pokemon for winning with a bad matchup. It looked to Ash before nodding its head, and instead of the screeches it heard during the fight, a few light chirps were given. Ash's eyebrow rose at the change in attitude, but nodded anyways. "Good. Now I'm gonna scan you to see what you can do, before giving you a dose of potion to get you into shape. After that we'll be moving to try and reach Viridian city before dinner time. That way we might be able to get in some training." At nods from both pokemon, he pulled out his pokedex before doing a quick scan on the Fletchling.

_Fletchling. The Tiny Robin pokemon _

_This amiable Pokémon is easy to train. But when battle is joined, it shows its ferocious side. _

_Gender: Female _

_Ability: Gale Wings _

_Nature: Hasty _

_Known moves: Peck, Quick Attack, Tackle, Ember _

_Egg moves: None _

Ash looked up. The bird was noticeably friendlier now out of combat. Frost was clicking amiably at her, and she seemed to be responding good naturedly. It seemed that the bird had some sort of switch in personalities when in combat situations. He hoped it would be manageable and not something that would hinder them in a fight. A couple of quick potion sprays and the Fletchling was good to fly. "Before I forget, would you like a nickname?" At that she chirped before nodding. Ash began to rattle off a few nicknames to the bird, things like Flare, Flame and Cinder all being rejected. Eventually, he figured out she didn't like the fire theme at all, so he swapped ideas. Eventually they finally agreed upon Zephyr. Quite a gentle name for the force that he fought, but it fit her quite well outside of battle. Chirping happily with her new name, Zephyr took to flight nearby, watching her new trainer for threats from above. With Frost on his favourite perch, the group continued towards Viridian.

/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\

"Rattata! Use Tackle!"

"Frost, shift and use Bug Bite. Fairy Wind if needed"

The small rat charged towards Frost, who didn't even use his threads and shifted out of the way last second, before brutally biting into the rats side. It shrieked in pain before flinging the bug off, before being blasted by pink wind and being knocked out.

"Rattata! Return!" The youngster Ash was battling called as the rat was returned to its ball. "Man, that bug sure packs a punch! Good battle!" said the boy, as he handed Ash his winnings.

"Thanks, you too!" Ash replied. The winnings weren't much, merely 100 pokedollars, but it helped to have some pocket change. He watched the boy run off, before kneeling down to pat Frost's head. "Well done. Though it wasn't that hard of an opponent huh." The bug merely clicked before returning to his spot. "Viridian should be close now. Only a few more minutes."

The rest of the trip had been fairly uninteresting. A couple of Pidgey tried their luck, but Zephyr was there to dissuade them. And by dissuade, he meant brutally knock them out with her speed. With Gale Wings, none of the other birds had been able to keep up with Zephyr's speed, and such fell to some brutal Quick Attack and Peck combos. As such, Frost was the one given the trainer battle, said trainer seeming thinking the bug an easy target.

"Ah, there it is now." Ash spoke. They had reached the top of the hill, and Viridian city was now in sight. It was nothing too special, a few buildings, a pokemon centre, a police station and a pokemart, but at least he wouldn't have to spend tonight in a tent. It was good timing too, as the sun had just barely went down, signaling the beginning of the night. His trainer fight and a couple of detours caused him to show up later than he thought, so there would be no training tonight. Tomorrow, maybe they would start earlier to get some training in before they left for the forest. As he approached, he noticed an Officer Jenny and their Growlithe waiting by the entrance. He went forward and tried to speak to her. "Hello, officer, wha-"

"Stop right there, criminal!" She interrupted. "Put your hands where I can see them!"

Ash was very confused, but complied nonetheless. "I'm sorry, but I didn't-" He was interrupted by the Growlithe starting to growl and bark at him. This was probably a bad move, since both Frost and Zephyr jumped in front of Ash to protect him, both of their happy-go-lucky attitudes lost in their duty.

"See, having your pokemon ready to kill mine! Clearly a member of Team Rocket!"

"What?! They're just protecting me!" Ash shouted.

"That's what you want me to think, huh criminal! Why are your pokemon out of their balls then if they weren't stolen!"

"Look, if I show you my pokedex that shows they're legitimate captures, would you let me go?" Ash pleaded.

The Jenny stared into his eyes looking for any deceit. Not finding any, she sighed. "Fine, hand it over I can check." As he took out his pokedex and started to walk forward, the Growlithe barked loudly, both his pokemon responding loudly in kind. "Don't take another step. Throw it over here." Ash sighed. He complied and threw the pokedex over to the Jenny who opened it and checked it over. Her face paled when she realized that he was correct, and that Professor Oak himself was the one to give him the pokedex. "I'm sorry. There's been reports of suspicious individuals in the area. You didn't have a Kanto native so I just assumed..."

Ash groaned out loud. "So... Can I go now? I need to head to the pokemon centre."

"Yes. You're clear to go. My apologies once again Mr. Ketchum." With those final words, Ash started into the city. Neither of his pokemon took their eyes off the Growlithe though, waiting to see if it made a move. Once they were finally out of sight, they returned to their original attitudes. "That was... Interesting." Ash said after a few moments. Both pokemon just nodded in agreement. As they reached the pokemon centre, he turned to his team. "I'm going to return you two so you can get checked out by Nurse Joy. I'll let you both our as soon as I get you back, okay?" A nod from both, and they were back in their balls before he walked inside.

Unfortunately, the first person he saw was Gary, who looked over and smirked before walking over. "Oh look, _Ketchum_ finally decided to show up huh? Looks like im _first_. As _usual_. How does it feel knowing you'll always he following in _my_ footsteps huh?" Ash just tried to walk past him to the front counter, but Gary just blocked him. "And where's your puny bug? Oh, I see. You probably _lost_ to some Pidgey and he's in his ball, almost dead. That's _hilarious_. A _loser_ pokemon for a _loser_ like you." Gary sneered.

"If I'm such a loser, then what does that make you, who lost to me earlier today?" Ash finally snapped back. Gary frowned at that before finally smirking.

"I see. Then why don't we have another battle huh? All of my pokemon, versus all of yours? I bet you only have one anyways?"

"No thanks, I need to get my pokemon healed anyways" Was Ash's reply, once again trying to push past him. Gary once again blocked him, before laughing out loud.

"Oh I see, Ketchum. You're _scared_. That's why you're running away. Too afraid to show that your only win was a _fluke_."

Ash finally let out a sigh. It was late, and dealing with Gary at this time was just painful for him. "_Fine_, Gary. Let's have a battle. I'm too tired to argue this any further."

/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\

Ash stood at the red side of the battle area, with Gary over at the blue side. The same colors on their pokedex, the sane colors they have always been in practice simulations. It would always be Ash and red, Gary and blue.

From across the way, Gary was looking at him, ever constant smirk over his face. "Ready to _lose_, Ketchum? You won't get lucky this time, since now I know all your little bugs tricks!"

Ash just stayed silent, a blank expression on his face. Inwardly though, he was seriously getting tired of the Oak's constant belittling of him and his team. So instead of responding, he simply grabbed a ball off of his belt, and released his pokemon instead. Frost appeared, and looked around before noticing Gary and tensing up. Angry clicks were heard from his mouth as he remembered just who was in front of him.

Gary just started laughing. "Was that clicking supposed to be _intimidating_?" he managed to wheeze out. "Time for a rematch, and this time, it's going to be easy." With that, he released his Squirtle, who saw Frost and instantly prepared for battle. "Quick, start off with Water Gun before it can get closer!" The angry turtle breathed in before launching the compressed water towards Frost. Without prompting, the Snom was able to scuttle out of the way before the blast hit him. "Don't let up! Give it no time to recover!" Continuous more blasts of water were shot at Frost, who was trying their best to not get caught in the blasts. Ash grit his teeth. With the battle arena being flat, there was no way for Frost to use his threads to maneuver around, letting him fire any counter attacks and letting him dodge easier. He could use Mirror Coat, but Gary hadn't seen it yet, so he wanted to keep that card hidden until it was too late. Therefore, he only had one option left.

"Take a blast, then use your thread to pull yourself closer! Then use Bug Bite!" The Snom complied, taking a blast which broke a few icy spikes on its back, before firing a thread and pulling itself towards the Squirtle. Gary merely smirked harder at that. "We won't fall for that one again! Withdraw!" Right before Frost could bite into the turtle, Squirtle tucked into its shell, and the bite harmlessly clenched onto it. "Now shake it off and use tackle!" A quick spin and Frost was blown off, before being slammed into and knocked backwards.

"Frost! Fairy Wind!" Despite being knocked backwards in the air, the bug turned itself right in midair, and blasted the turtle with its own attack. It landed, pushing the turtle back, but Frost definetly took the worse of the trade. "Powder Snow now!" The cold, snowy air shot out, but the turtle was able to just barely avoid it in time.

"Without your little surprise attack, there's no way your tiny bug can win!" Gary sneered. "Water Gun! Keep blasting till it's down!" More blasts of water fired at Frost, who merely kept avoiding as many as he could. A few glancing blows would hit him, but without any time to retaliate, it was only a matter of time. However, Ash noticed the blasts were less powerful, and slightly slower. The Squirtle was obviously getting tired. Gary was clearly relying on power to get him through this. So Ash merely tried again. "Frost, same plan!" The bug didn't hesitate, merely taking a blast before firing a thread at the turtle and pulling once more.

"Again? Do you not _learn_? Squirtle. Withdraw!" And so history repeated itself. Except when the Squirtle tucked into its shell for protection. "Now! Detach and Powder Snow into the shell!" The bug instantly complied, cancelling his Bug Bite before blasting the opening of the Squirtles shell.

"No! Get out and grab him!" But the Squirtle at that point was too tired. The final blast of wind knocked him backwards, before he popped out of his shell knocked out. Frost returned to his trainers side, however he was panting and most of his spikes were cracked. "Oh well, your little bug is done for. He won't stand a chance against my next pokemon." After returning Squirtle, he grabbed his next ball. "Go, Growlithe!" Out from the red light popped an orange and black canine he saw earlier today with Officer Jenny. This one however was a lot smaller. Now he might be in a bit of a problem. Frost was already really tired, and he was extremely weak to fire types. He was unsurprised when the first command Gary shouted was Ember.

"Dodge and use Fairy Wind!" Frost was just barely able to scuttle past the flame, before shooting out a weak Fairy Wind. It connected, but didn't do nearly as much damage as Ash hoped.

"Quick Attack! Pin it and use Ember point blank!" The Growlithe dashed, a slight blur to Ash's untrained eyes, and Frost was knocked over onto his back. Growlithe held one paw on top of the bug, before opening its maw, preparing to shoot a flame to finish the fight. "Mirror Coat!" With its remaining energy, Frost glowed, a white shine surrounding it, right az the flame connected with the bug. "No! Get out of there!" Gary screamed! Yet it was too late. Being point blank, the damage done was reflected twice as hard, hitting the pup square in the chest, knocking it far back into the air. It landed, still awake, but clearly on its last legs unable to battle. Frost was knocked out, all their spines down to bare minimum, covered in a few burns. Ash quickly returned him, whispering quietly to the ball. "Thanks, you did great buddy." A quick wiggle was given before the ball stilled, the bug entering stasis within.

"Hah, looks like I win then!" Gary said, quickly getting past his shock of almost losing two pokemon. "Looks like your egg moves couldn't save you this time."

"But, I still have another pokemon." Ash said.

"Pfft." Gary laughed. "What else would you possibly have. A Rattata? Whatever. Release it, I'm sure it will be an easy win anyways." So Ash complied. Releasing Zephyr, she looked around, before giving a good natured chirp at Ash. Then it turned to the obviously injured Growlithe, and spread its wings giving a loud screech. Before either trainer could say anything, a fast Quick Attack finished off the Growlithe, knocking it out, before returning to Ash's side of the field.

"Where in the world did you find a Fletchinder?!" Gary shouted. He frowned, recalling his Growlithe. Ash didn't bother correcting him on what evolution his bird was. "Whatever. Your bird is no match for mine anyways!" With that, he release a third pokemon. Out came a Pidgeotto, about half a foot taller than Zephyr. Both birds let out a shriek of challenge, before both shot into the air.

"Zephyr! Use Peck!"

"Pidgeotto! Quick Attack!"

Yet neither birds listened. Instead, both birds continued to charge headfirst, tackling the other in midair. This, however, was in favour for Ash, as Zephyr was just barely faster than Pidgeotto was. After five minutes of watching both birds Tackle each other midair, Ash finally screamed out "Zephyr! Ember into Quick Attack!" His birds eyes finally gained some clarity, before complying. As the Pidgeotto charged forwards once again, instead of clashing, Zephyr nimbly dodged out of the way, before giving chase and opening her beak. An Ember, if Ash could even call it that, shot out from her mouth. It wasn't much, but it was enough to clip the wing of the Pidgeotto, and burn it enough to mess with the birds speed. A charge from behind with Quick Attack finally brought the opposing bird down to the ground, where it landed knocked out. Zephyr landed in front of Ash, bruised badly, but standing defiantly. Gary recalled his Pidgeotto, now fuming, before pulling out his last ball. "Finish it Nidoran!" The purple horned pokemon emerged, horn dripping with poison and an angry growl resounding.

Ash looked at Zephyr. She was bruised and hurt, but looked ready to fight for him. He let out a sigh, before calling out. "I withdraw, you win." The bird turned back, chirping negatively at that call, but Ash simply shook his head. "You're injured, and I don't want to risk you getting poisoned. It's fine. We only lost because of a number disadvantage anyways." He spoke softly to his bird. She merely nodded, before being recalled into her ball.

"I knew it, running away once you see you're clearly outmatched!" Shouted Gary. "Now, hand me my winnings, _Loser_." Ash grabbed a couple hundred pokedollars, before Gary ripped them from his hands, and shoved him back to the ground. "Smell you later, Loser." Was his parting remark, before disappearing into the pokemon centre. Ash picked himself off the ground, dusting himself off before sighing out loud once again. He didn't need to hand over any winnings since it was an unofficial match, with one side having more pokemon, but he knew Gary would just complain otherwise. He also just didn't want to deal with him anymore, so he waited outside for a couple of extra minutes before following into the pokemon centre himself.

Upon arriving, he went to the Nurse Joy, before handing his pokeballs to the nurse and asking for a room key for the night. She smiled and asked for his pokedex, which he gave, before she did so, before asking "Would you like to pick up your pokemon tonight or tomorrow morning."

"Tonight, if possible." Was his reply.

"Then, please wait over there. Also your room key, your room is 126. It will only he a short bit before I can have your pokemon for you."

"Thank you very much." He went to sit in the appointed area, before sitting on a couch and relaxing. This was only his first day, and just that walk from Pallet to Viridian had taken a toll on him. _"Better get used to it soon." _He mused internally.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

A half hour later of reading random articles on his pokedex, and the P.A system in the pokemon centre finally called his name. He went up to receive his pokemon from Nurse Joy.

"Both of your pokemon are perfectly healthy." She started to explain. "Your Snom will be a little tired and need some rest to regain some size in his spikes, but your Fletchling is perfectly fine. Though it is a wonder of how it got so big."

"I wonder the same thing." He answered honestly. "I only caught her myself today. Thanks so much Nurse Joy!"

"It's no proble-"

Suddenly the power shut down. He saw the nurse frown, quickly looking out the windows. "That's strange." She commented. "It's not a power outage since the outside street lights are still on. The backup generators should be turning on any second now."

Yet those seconds passed, with the power still staying off. Ash was starting to get a little concerned now. "Are you su-"

That's when a loud explosion tore out one of the nearby walls. Ash and the nurse were quickly able to duck behind the counter, where they were protected from most of the debris. From the newly made hole in the wall, smoke started to billow out. In the smoke they were able to make out three distinctive shapes. Two humans and one pokemon.

"Prepare for trouble." A female voice.

"And make it double." A male one.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nations."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach from the stars above."

"Jesse!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!" A third voice. From the pokemon.

Ash's blood went cold. He felt his body freeze up. They were members of _Team Rocket_. A known terrorist organization that was active 20 years ago. They were known for being ruthless, attacking and killing both pokemon and trainers. Yet here they were, attacking the pokemon centre here. He tried to move his body, to make a sound. But he couldn't, at that moment too paralyzed by fear to move.

"What do you want?!" Asked Nurse Joy.

"Why we're here to steal your pokemon of course." Answered the red headed lady, Jessie.

"And we'll start with those two." Said the blue haired James, pointing at his two pokeballs on the counter. "Hand them over, and no one gets hurt."

Ash's control of his body finally returned to him, as he was filled with rage. He grabbed his balls of the table and pulled them to his chest. "These pokemon are mine." He snarled at them. "You'll have to kill me to take them."

"Well, if that's what it takes." Said Jessie lazily. "Go, Ekans."

"You too, Koffing."

"Don' fahget about me!"

Two flashes of red light, revealing two pokemon. The first, a purple and yellow snake, about 6' in length, Ekans. The second, a floating purple sphere with a skull and crossbones in white, emitting greenish gasses, Koffing. Plus the white cat with a gold coin on its forehead, the talking Meowth. All three stepped up, prepared to attack. Acting quickly, Ash released his team. His two pokemon were confused, but looked around. "Those are members of Team Rocket." He told them. "They're enemies. We need to take them out."

"A bug and a bird? Seems simple enough. Ekans, use Bite on the bug."

"Koffing, use Smog on the bird."

Both pokemon advanced, with the Meowth shifting towards the side. That wasn't his current focus however. "Frost, dodge and use Powder Snow! Zephyr, blow it away and use Quick Attack!" As Ekans went in for the attack, Frost used his thread on the wall to maneuver around, and fire the cold winds at the snake. It hit and pushed the snake back, before getting back up and charging straight back. Meanwhile, the purple smog fired from the Koffing was blown apart by furious wing beats from Zephyr, who then charged and knocked into the Koffing at full force, pushing it back and causing damage.

"Brat! Ekans, use wrap on the bird!"

"Koffing, Tackle the bug!"

With the changes in target, both of the poison pokemon charged towards Ash's. "Use Ember when the Ekans gets close! Frost, Bug Bite!" The snake was able to grab Zephyr, and started to squeeze onto the bird. She shrieked in pain, before managing to turn her head just enough. She opened her mouth and fired a desperate ember into the face of the Ekans, who hissed in pain before being forced to let go. Using the time she got free, a quick Tackle was used to further make space. She however, took a poison sting when the snake was hit, feeling the poison enter her bloodstream.

On the other side of the fight, as the Koffing charged towards Frost, it prepared its mandibles. It caught the charge head on, taking damage, but clamping onto the poison pokemon as tightly as it could. It thrashed until the bug had to let go, and fired a Smog at said bug. With not enough time to move, Frost took the hit before moving back to position, feeling the effects. Are you guys ok?" Ash asked, getting fierce cries in return. "Now Frost use-"

"Look out!" He heard Nurse Joy call out. Ash turned his head to see the Meowth. It was heading straight for him, claws extended with killing intent. With no time to dodge, he simply raised his arm to protect himself.

**_*Schlick*_ **

Indescribable pain flowed through Ash as he **_screamed_ **in pain. The Meowth's claws cutting into his arm, three jagged cuts appearing, deep and bleeding. The Meowth raised his arm to cut into him again before two screechs of fury tore through the air. A thread landed onto its arm, before an angry Frost tore into it with a full powered Bug Bite. No longer holding back, it tore into the Meowth's arm, causing it to bleed the same way Ash did. It was followed by an angry Zephyr who full force knocked the Meowth back towards Team Rocket. Both pokemon then positioned themselves in front of their bleeding trainer, eyes full of fury. Yet they were stumbling, clearly affected by the poison running through their systems.

"Almos had ya there" The Meowth stated. Yet Ash was in too much pain to really pay attention.

"Should be easy clean up at this point." Said Jessie. "Ekans, finish them off."

"You too, Koffing and Meowth."

Ash watched helplessly as all three pokemon advanced towards his weakened team, arm bleeding. He went to open his mouth, to plead, to scream, to do anything. Before-

"You did well, newbie."

Suddenly there was a **_*Crack*_ **before a yellow bolt of electricity _slammed_ into the three advancing pokemon. It knocked them fully back towards the trainers, who opened their mouths in shock. He saw a large yellow bipedal animal, with black horns, red gym on its forehead, an Ampharos, jump in front of his two poisoned pokemon. He watched as the rockets quickly recalled the two poison types, before picking up the Meowth and bolting out the hole they made.

"Ampharos, after them!" The same gruff voice called out. The sheep obliged, sprinting out the same hole. From there he heard screaming and another distant _*crack*_ before he felt his head start to spin, and everything start to become fuzzy.

"He's lost a lot of blood." He distantly heard the Nurse Joy from earlier. "We need to get him taken care of quick!"

"You're gonna be okay kid." said the same male voice. He blurrilly saw a dirty blonde haired man appear, before everything faded to black.


	2. Experience - 2

**A/N - ****T****his is the last A/N to come before the chapter. Every chapter from now on it will be at the end. Since lets be real, no one cares what this says, and if its at the end then you can just skip it. You all just want more story.** **Probably.**

**So here you go.**

**Btw thanks for all the follows/favourites. :)**

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

Ash awoke with a headache. His head was spinning, and with his eyes closed he felt nauseous. Then, memories of what happened flooded his mind. His eyes jerked open, and he lurched forwards-

Before groaning, and immediately lying down again._"Okay, maybe that wasn't my best idea." _He lamented in his mind. Waiting for the spinning to stop, he reopened his eyes. This time, he took the time to look around the room, realizing he was in a hospital bed inside the pokemon centre. An IV drip was plugged into his left arm, and his right was heavily bandaged but no longer bleeding. He carefully moved his left arm and touched his injured side, wincing at the sharp pain it brought him.

"I hope you don't try that again." A stern voice called out. He turned to see Nurse Joy with a hard look on her face. "Your arm is still sore, and touching it too much could aggravate the wound."

"Sorry." Ash said. "I just wanted too..."

The nurse sighed, her face taking a more gentle state. "I know. For what it's worth, you were doing very well in your battle. Had it been a two versus two, you may have actually won." Ash started to blush from the praise, before his eyes widened.

"My pokemon!" He panicked. "Where are they? Are they okay?!"

The nurse laughed, before pointing to the table beside him. His eyes moved, and there were his two pokeballs. "They are perfectly healthy." He smiled, before noticing the nurse's eyes turn sharp. "Now, just because everything turned out well does not give you, a child, the right to try and fight off dangerous criminals!"

"They wanted to steal my pokemon!" He tried to defend himself. "What did you expect me to do?!"

"You had been a trainer for a day!" The nurse countered. "What did you expect to truly accomplish?" She let out a sigh. "In any case, you were lucky that Mr. Mirei heard the fight, and was able to save you from that situation."

"Mr. Mirei?" He asked. "Who is that?"

"A trainer who has been active for almost 10 years now. He did want to talk to you about the battle two nights ago, but it will have to be here. You're bed ridden until I deem your arm healed enough for you to adventure. Now, I'll go get Mr. Mirei for you." With that, Nurse Joy left to go retrieve him, leaving Ash alone in the room.

With time to let his thoughts wander, Ash began to realize just what he missed initially in the nurse's statement. The battle had been _two nights ago._ Which meant he had been knocked out for two whole days at the minimum. That meant that he would have to call and check in on his mom before he left Viridian city, who would no doubt fuss over his arm and news of the explosion at the centre. Which also meant that his mother, the huge worrier that she was, might take this as a sign and try to stop him from being a trainer. Now panicking, he started to reach for his pokeballs to find some comfort in his pokemon.

"Probably wouldn't do that if I were you." Ash turned, hand gripped even harder onto Frost's ball as he turned and glared at the trainer who stood by the open doorway. "I'm just saying. They might be still stressed about the situation and freak out over you being hurt. Your pokemon are all still fairly young and inexperienced."

"And what would _you_ know about me being inexperienced?" Ash retorted angrily.

The man just snorted, clearly amused. "So the little newbie _does_ have a spine. And here I thought yesterday was just the anger talking." The man finally fully entered the room, and Ash was finally able to get a good look at him. Standing at around 6', with dirty blonde hair and sunglasses on top. A dark blue and black trench coat with a red design down one sleeve, and black pants. Overall, a rough looking individual that Ash was barely able to recognize as the man who saved his life. "Name's Wes Mirei. Call me Wes or nothing at all."

"Ash Ketchum." Was his reply. All he got was another snort of amusement.

"Doesn't matter, probably won't remember it anyways. Anyways kid, just wanted to give you a rundown on what happened last night." This caught Ash's full attention, now listening carefully to whatever Wes would say.

"As you probably already know, those were members of Team Rocket. Known terrorists, steal and kill, yadda yadda." He rambled off. "What you didn't know, is that those were Jesse and James. While newer, they are considered to be up and coming rocket members to become admins." Now that was a shock. If they were up and coming admins, why were they using weaker pokemon. Adding to that, how did Wes even _know_ this information. "I can tell by your face that the gears up in your head are getting stuck. That's good, knowing there is something up there after all." Ash couldn't help but scowl at the insult.

"I'll answer the obvious one first. How do we know about them being admin nominees? Well, I'm something of a... special case in the League." At this his his eyes turned to the window, face contemplative. "You can consider me a sort of hired detective working on terrorist cases. Since I have... prior experience I'm quite good at what I do" He shook his head. "Slightly off topic, so we'll get back to why this is relevant to you. Despite being a newbie, you faced off against two and up coming admins with two weak pokemon. Which, while impressive, if they used their actual teams, you definitely wouldn't be here right now. Most likely they were using grunt pokemon in this little smash and grab to make them seem less involved. The two managed to get away last night using some sort of psychic type with teleport, so now I'm back on the trail."

Ash, once again given another lecture about his almost timely death, was starting to get mildly annoyed. "So then, why tell me all this? If I'm just some newbie trainer, why let me know?"

Wes just stared at him. After about a minute, it started to make Ash slightly uncomfortable. "Because you fighting off those Rockets reminded me of myself, back at your age." He eventually said. "And seeing where that brought me, I'm interested in where you might be headed for the future." Suddenly, something was thrown his way. He brought up his good arm to catch it before it hit his face. "That's a gift, I suggest you take care of them. Heaven knows if you don't, I'll be the one who suffers from it." And with that, Wes left without even looking back.

Ash stared at the doorway, more confused than when he initially woke up. From what he was able to gather, some detective was the one to save him. He was told that the ones he tried to stop yesterday were pseudo-admins taking it easy, then threw him something then left. Looking down into his hands, he realized just what he was given.

A white premier ball. That was _filled_.

Apparently Wes had decided to help Ash on his journey, and didn't even give him the option of declining the pokemon, already having left the room and most likely the building by now. At this, Ash become slightly upset. Why would he just _abandon_ this pokemon with him?

"Oh don't look like that!" He nearly jumped. Looking over, he saw Nurse Joy had come back. "Mr. Mirei told me the circumstances behind that particular pokemon. It was both willing and ready for this. Otherwise it would stay cooped up and unable to travel. In fact, it's already registered to you." The nurse informed him.

"Even so... I wanted to choose my own path. Catch my own pokemon." He tried. "This is supposed to be _my_ journey, and I didn't earn this capture _myself._"

"Oh, please." Scoffed the nurse. "I think nearly driving out Team Rocket counts as _earning_ this pokemon. Plus, it's not as if you don't have a choice. I'm sure if you don't want it, you can always send it back to your sponsor and they can take care of it." She could still see Ash's hesitance however, so she merely sighed. "At least see what pokemon it is, and if they themselves want to join before deciding what to do with them, okay?" Ash could only nod at that request, finding it fairly reasonable. "Right, now let me check your arm."

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

Now free from his hospital bed, Ash was standing in the main lobby of the pokemon centre. Next to him were the phone booths. Having just faced off against a known criminal organization and almost dying, Ash knew one thing for sure. This was easily the _scariest_ moment of his life. Having to call home to his mother to explain what happened. He had been standing next to the phones for the past fifteen minutes, not calling or talking. Just holding it up with a face full of fear. It got so bad that one passerby even told Nurse Joy, who simply rolled her eyes before continuing her job.

Five minutes more, and finally Ash found the courage. He, with trembling hands, picked up the phone before dialing in his mothers number. The video display lit up, signalling that the call was ringing. A couple of seconds later, his mother's face appeared, full of worry.

"Ash! Are you alright?" She asked concerned.

"I'm fine, mom." He replied quickly. _Too_ quickly.

"Are you sure? I saw the news the other day, about the explosion there! You weren't hurt were you?" His eyes shifted to look down at his still bandaged arm. Unfortunately, his mother caught the glance and caught on immediately. "Ash Ketchum, tell me the truth."

"I'm fine! It was just a small bruise from the rubble!" He lied. He felt awful about it, but lying to keep her happy was better than having her worried about his life, he tried to convince himself.

"Well... If you're sure..." She eventually relented. A few moments of silence, she started conversation again. "How was your trip to Viridian? Everything go well? Catch anything interesting?"

Ash visibly perked up at the change of topic. "Yeah, Frost and I get along great! And we caught a Fletchling too!" He spouted out excitedly.

"Frost? Is that what you named your Snom? And a Fletchling? Aren't those native to Kalos? What was one doing near Pallet?"

"Yeah! Ruined all my hard work thinking too" He muttered that last bit under his breath. "And I have no idea, but Zephyr is great. Quite strong too! When she battled us, she-"

Delia smiled, seeing the clear delight on her son's face when talking about his new pokemon. For the next few minutes, she let him talk about his first day, before finally cutting him off. "Alright dear, it sounds like an exciting first day, huh?"

At that his smile became slightly more strained. "Yeah, definitely exciting that's for sure."

"Just, remember honey. I'll always be proud of you."

"Thanks mom." His smile becoming real once again.

"Okay, I won't bother you any longer. I love you, honey. Remember to always cha-"

"Okaybyemomloveyoutoo" Ash quickly got out, before hanging up quickly. Nearby he could hear a couple of nearby people giggle while looking at his direction, but he just embarrassingly walked to the front counter. There, Nurse Joy gave him one last quick check up, before nodding at him.

"Remember, don't be too rough with your arm for the next week or so, as it will still be sore to touch. You can remove the bandages any time you want once you leave." She said, giving a stern lecture to him. "And with that extra pokemon, make sure you come to a decision soon, okay?"

"Got it." He confirmed. "Thanks for everything, Nurse Joy!" With that final parting remark, Ash was finally freed from the prison that was the pokemon centre. _"Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic to think of as a _prison_." _He mused to himself. Grabbing his pokeballs, he released his two pokemon. Frost and Zephyr both materialized from their balls before moving up to cuddle their trainer. "Hey guys, are the two of you alright?" Reassuring nods were given, but their eyes showed worry when he noticed them linger on his bandaged arm. He moved slowly to unravel the bandages.

When they fell off completely they showed Ash's arm. Healed, and no longer bleeding, but covered in three _distinct_ scar marks, running diagonally down his forearm. Nurse Joy said that without a Ditto cell transplant, they would most likely scar over. Due to an emergency that had happened a few days earlier, they had run out of usable Ditto cells, so Ash's arm would have to heal the natural way. At the concerned warbles from his team, he waved them off. "I'm fine, you guys knocked the Meowth off of me." He reassured them. "Plus Wes was there to scare the attackers off. Speaking of." He held up the premier ball. "He handed me this pokemon. I've no idea who it is, or if they will even accept us. But I did promise nurse joy we would at least try. Be wary just in case." After recieving a nod from both, he released the pokemon.

From the light came a small quadrupedal pokemon. It had brown fur, with long pointed ears and big black eyes. Easily identifiable. Wes had given Ash an Eevee. Which are extremely _rare_ catches to find in the wild, and even still bred Eevee are hard to find since they are high in demand. Yet here he was, with another rare catch for his region.

He knelt down to Eevee's level who was staring at him curiously. "Hey there. Not quite who you were expecting to call you out huh?" The Eevee shook their head, before yipping softly at him and playfully spinning in a circle. "Wait, did Wes _tell you_ that you were going to be given to me?" A nod was given, and more energetic yips from the Eevee. "And you were okay with that?" A jump and excited yips were his answer, before the Eevee turned to the other two pokemon. Apparently this specific Eevee was _very_ friendly, and despite Frost being a little wary at first, all three pokemon were eventually carried away in a conversation. Well, he certainly wasn't going to have any problems with any of them getting along. Pulling out his pokedex, he did a quick scan of Eevee.

_Eevee. The Evolution pokemon._

_A rare pokemon that adapts to harsh environments by taking on different evolutionary forms._

_Sex: Female_

_Ability: Run Away_

_Nature: Quirky_

_Known moves: Tackle, Covet, Tail Whip, Growl, Helping Hand_

_Egg moves: Detect_

Not a bad starting set of moves. Though, he had to wonder just why she had helping hand. Here in Kanto, double battles were exceedingly rare, so there would be no reason to learn helping hand. More questions raised about the legitimacy of Wes, but he shook them off as something to ask later. If they were to meet again, anyways. "Hey, Eevee." He called out, the fox like pokemon turning at the call. "Would you like a nickname? Or would you like to wait until you evolve?" She nodded happily, eager for a new name to call her own. And so the brainstorming commenced. They rattled off a few ideas, like Rainer, Sparky, Pyro, Sakura, Tamao, Linnea and Rea, but she didn't seem to like any of those specifically. She did hesitate on Linnea for a little bit, but ultimately didn't think it would fit her in the long run. Though the entire time they thought of names, the Eevee would try and sneak off with Ash's hat. Which eventually help lead to the makings of her name. "Quite the tricky little fox, aren't you?" He mused, watching the Eevee attempt to wear the oversized hat she managed to steal. "What about Vix? Short for Vixen?" An enthusiastic yip was the answer, before she shot off as he tried to reach for his hat back. He let out a small sigh, before looking at Frost and Zephyr. "Either of you want to help me get that back?" Frost shook his head, clearly out of the league in the speed department, while Zephyr simply rolled her eyes. "No one on this team respects leadership, I swear." He mumbled under his breath before running after his new excitable teammate.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

Ash was extremely nervous. He was standing outside the entrance to the Viridian City gym. Giovanni, the leader of the gym, was known for being _extremely_ difficult to beat. Since he has become the leader of Viridian's gym, it was said that he has only lost and given his badge a total of twenty times. That was over a duration of _ten years_. His overwhelmingly powerful ground types were said to have been able to almost completely wipe an entire team each on their own. So why was Ash, a new trainer who hasn't even had a proper training session with his pokemon, outside?

Well, call him a glutton for punishment, (And wasn't that saying something after yesterday's events) but he wanted to see if the rumors were true. Plus, he couldn't deny that a_ small_ part of him was a fan of him. Even if he did end up losing, hopefully he would be able to take something from it as a learning experience.

Mustering up his courage, he entered the gym, and walked towards the front counter. There, he found a secretary, clearly looking bored with her job. As he approached, she looked up lazily before asking: "Name?"

"Ash Ketchum." He replied, in what he hoped wasn't a nervous voice.

"Badges?"

"N-none."

The secretary looked up at that. "None? You are aware of whos gym this is right? Most people don't come here until they've earned at least _five _badges. Even then, no one ever really wins. Giovanni isn't one to pull punches."

He gulped at that. "Even so, I want to try."

She rolled her eyes. "Kids these days, always so eager to lose. I'll let him know you're on your way in. Good luck." That last bit didn't sound sincere. Ash just nodded quickly before scurrying towards the doors.

Upon entering, he was lead to a wide open arena. The ground was entirely made of rough, uneven ground, with some larger rocks and boulders scattered around the arena. On both sides of the court were seating areas for visitors, all bare and empty. On the opposite end of the field, he saw an empty corner for where Giovanni would stand, and the entrance to his office just beyond that. He waited in nervous anticipation for what would undoubtedly be a slaughter.

The doors on the other side of the field opened, and out walked Giovanni in all his terrifying presence. The tall man walked to his side of the field, entering the box before sizing him up. "Ash Ketchum." His deep voice called out.

"Y-yes sir, that's me."

"So it is. I'm sorry about what happened to you the other day."

"You heard about that?" Ash asked shocked.

The gym leader let out a snort. "Of course I did. Every gym leader is essentially the main protectors of their cities. So, since you were attacked in mine, it was my failure in doing my duty."

"It's okay. Everything turned out fine." Was eventually his response. He could feel the gym leader staring at him, specifically his arm.

"In any case, you challenging me here is something I didn't really expect." He commented. "Knowing your parents, I would have figured you'd be smart enough to know of my reputation."

"Wait. You knew my parents?" Ash blurted out. "You knew my dad?"

"Of course. Me and Delia used to be close friends. And of course I know of your father too. But before you ask, it is not my place to say." Ash's face fell at the answer to the question he didn't even _get_ to ask. "Before we get too off topic, I would like to talk to you about your battle here. Normally, I would either kick you out or stomp you outright if you were to battle me with no badges." At that Ash started to pale. "But, since I know your parents, plus I was unable to stop the rockets from injuring you, we will do this a little differently. How many pokemon do you have?"

"I have three, sir."

"Good." Giovanni nodded. "Release them all."

"All three? Now?" He asked.

"That is what I said." He said, tone patient. Ash complied, releasing his team. Giovanni looked over the three carefully, before turning back to Ash with his eyebrow raised. "Two non-Kanto natives and a rare one? I'm guessing the Eevee was your starter then?"

"No, Frost was my starter. I mean, Snom."

"Interesting. In any case, were you to battle even my weakest members of my team, you would lose. They're all untrained and weak as of right now." At that Ash started to look crestfallen. "However, I can see the potential that may come from a team as such. That Fletchling looks like it will grow to be huge and Eevee are extremely flexible to fit on a team." Both pokemon preened under the praise, before he finally looked over Frost. "I'll admit, not much is known about Snom and Frosmoth, considering that hardly evolve. I do however believe that you may bring out its full potential."

Ash smiled at that. "Thank you very much, sir!"

"You won't be thanking me soon." Was his ominous reply. A pokeball was brought to his hand, he eyed it before looking back at Ash. "Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to release this pokemon, then you are going to battle it. With all three of yours at the same time. Then, when you lose, I will give you some observations."

He knew it was a bad idea, but he just _had_ to ask. "What if I win?"

Full blown laughter came from the gym leaders mouth. "You won't. But I'm not entirely unfair I suppose." With that, he released the pokemon. Out from the ball came a_ hulking_ figure. It was at this moment that Ash realized he bit off _way_ more than he could chew. A gargantuan 9' Rhyperior came from the ball, letting out a _terrifying_ roar. It looked around before seeing the three tiny pokemon across the arena. It turned back to it's trainer with one eyebrow raised, before he got waved off, turning back lazily. "This is my Rhyperior, a member of my _main team._ If you manage to beat me, I'll tell you about your father."

At that Ash's eyes went wide, before staring and the hulking figure in front of him. "There's no way I can beat something like that."

"Of course not." Giovanni scoffed. "But the offer stands until the League starts in a year. Who knows what might happen after you get some badges and experience. For today, if you manage to land a hit on Rhyperior, I will give you something to help you on your journey. You can begin when you're ready." At Ash's hesitance, he rolled his eyes. "Don't worry. He may look intimidating, but Rhyperior here is perfectly capable of holding back." The Rhyperior let out a snort at that, but at glare from his trainer he rolled his eyes. Turning to Ash's team, he let out a few grunts. Whatever was said seemed positive, as the apprehensive looks on his pokemon lessened, and Vix was even barking back a reply. "Take a few minutes to strategize, then you can start whenever. We'll go until either you land a hit, or I say so."

With that, he was left to plan. His team all gave one last look at the Rhyperior, before turning to Ash, giving him their undivided attention. "Right. Well, I suppose we're just gonna have to give it our best shot. Whatever Giovanni can give us that says will help probably will, considering who it's from." His eyes trailed over his team, before looking over at Zephyr. "You're probably our best bet in landing a hit. With Gale Wings and Quick Attack, you might be able to land one before they realize. However, we need to keep your speed a surprise until later. To start with, get above him and start trying to pepper him with Ember. When I give the signal, try for it." With a nod from the bird, he moved next to Frost. "You aren't incredibly mobile. With the mostly flat arena you can't move around too much. Move from rock to rock and keep attacking when you can." Another nod. His eyes turned to the excited fox. "I haven't battle with you yet, so I'm not quite sure how you fight. Sorry, Vix." He apologized. Yet the fox just took it good naturedly. "Try to get behind him. Snow will attack from one side and you the other. Hopefully he can't defend all three of you at once." With the plan set, the three set out into the field.

"Are you ready?" Giovanni's voice rang out.

"As much as I can, I suppose."

"Good. Begin!"

And so the battle commenced. With a shriek, Zephyr was up in the air. She started to circle overhead the Rhyperior, before opening her beak and taking pot shots at the behemoth. Her flames weren't powerful, something they'd have to work on, but they were enough. He paled when he saw Rhyperior open his mouth, flames starting to lick their lips. "Wait, isn't that overkill?!" Ash shouted, as the Rhyperior started to use Flamethrower. Yet, the attack that came out was nowhere _near_ what he expected. Tiny bursts of flame, identical to the ones Zephyr were shooting were fired back, colliding midair with hers and neutralizing the attack.

"I told you, he looks scary but can be quite the softy." Was a smirking Giovanni's remark.

Frost and Vix looked at each other quickly, before nodding and splitting off. Vix darted around towards the behemoth's back. Frost had latched to a nearby rock and from the top, fired a Powder Snow. Before it could reach him, the Rhyperior stomped the floor, a small pillar of Earth rising and taking the attack in his stead. Vix took the opportunity to dash in for a Tackle, but with a quick glance, she was knocked away by a low powered Iron Tail. She picked herself up, before dashing towards the side, avoiding a short puff of flames sent her way. The fight continued like this for a couple of minutes. Every time Vix would go for an attack, she was knocked back or forced to dodge. Every attack Frost sent was blocked before he was forced to switch angles, and he was running out of suitable perches. Zephyr's flames had decreased in speed, clearly still unused to having fire off so many. Plus the behemoth's eyes barely left the skies, always aware of the birds location. So Ash was forced to change his tactics. "Vix! Helping Hand on Frost! Frost, use Fairy Wind at full power!" The fox jumped towards the bug, her paw glowing white, and gave a tap on the bug's back, mindful of his spikes. After a quick moment, she dashed off to the side. Frost, using the extra energy, blasted his largest Fairy Wind yet directly towards the Rhyperior. Sensing the attack that may actually be a small threat, it turned towards it, only for Ash to finally shout out.

"Now!" Zephyr took that opportunity, and using Quick Attack dashed full speed towards the behemoth. But right before she landed the hit, the Rhyperior roared out and_ slammed_ the ground. Pillars of Earth rose and blocked the Fairy Wind from connecting, as well as slamming into the bird, knocking her off course. Vix was also blocked off from attacking as the solid walls formed around him to protect himself from being hit. None of his pokemon had the power to break the walls, and Zephyr didn't think she could press her luck pushing in from above.

Ash was about to call out his surrender, when he saw Frost seemingly calling out to the bird. She flew down and landed next to him, as Vix also joined them. A few clicks later, some yips of apparent input and whatever plan they had concocted had Zephyr looking at Frost strangely, and Vix totally on board, if her excited yipping told him anything. The walls around the Rhyperior fell, revealing it to be still unharmed. Vix started their plan, charging the Rhyperior straight on. The behemoth snorted, before firing a weak Flamethrower at it. She shifted slightly, dodging the attack and continuing forwards. Zephyr took this time to take to the air, flying above seemingly ready to take a dive. Suddenly, Frost shot a thread that connected with the birds leg, before being dragged through the air, straight towards the Rhyperior. When high enough, he let go, using the momentum gained in order to charge forward with a Bug Bite. From above, Zephyr had also fired off the largest Ember she could, while Vix kept the charge going from below. For a moment, the three pronged attack looked like it might work. His hopes were crushed when a white dome glowed around it, the Protect blocking all three attacks, before knocking the three pokemon back with a small blast of Flamethrower.

All three of his pokemon were now tired, and visibly injured. Yet his pokemon were still standing. And since they didn't want to give up, he would try one last time. "Team, come here real quick!" He called out. As they arrived, Ash began to explain their final attempt. "Vix, I need you to use Helping Hand on Zephyr, giving her a bit of a speed boost, before trying again from the back. Remember you have Detect this time. Frost, try one more time with Bug Bite from the front. This is our last try." His pokemon nodded, before setting up. Vix's paw glowed, transferring energy towards Zephyr who shot up into the air, before she circled around to Rhyperior's back once more. Frost took the direct route this time, firing off a thread and charging head first towards their foe, who shot out a small Flamethrower again. Midway however, the Snom cancelled their attack, and instead glowed indicating a Mirror Coat. At the same time, Zephyr charged in from the side, so Rhyperior turned towards her and shot out a weak Thunderbolt. It connected, bringing Zephyr down and out of the fight, before the Rhyperior turning to block the reflected attack with a Rock Tomb, the previous simultaneously attack already disabling the Snom for rest of the fight. Finally he went to knock off Vix with an Iron Tail, expecting to finish the fight easily.

Yet instead of connecting with her, Vix's eyes glinted, before she rolled and narrowly ducked under the attack, and slid forward.

**_*Thunk*_**

There was a moment of silence, before Vix whined softly and fell backwards, sitting down hard. She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable retaliation, but instead heard a good natured grumble. Opening her eyes, she saw the Rhyperior starting at her, before giving her a nod. Tackling the rocky behemoth probably did more damage to her than it did him. But the attack still landed. It was all they needed.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect that one." Was Giovanni's response. "Perhaps I should be training Rhyperior harder if he can be hit by three _rookies._" Ash could _feel_ the eye roll that came from the Rhyperior at that one, but elected to stay silent instead, expecting more from the gym leader. "Well done. It was a little shaky, but you managed to get it done."

"Thank you, sir!" Ash couldn't keep the huge grin off his face.

"Now, before anything, let's talk about the good points first." Giovanni started. "You clearly have a tactical mind, having several plans. Leaving your trump cards hidden in Detect and Mirror Coat was smart. And even while new to each other, your team clearly has good cooperation both with you and themselves." With each compliment Ash smile only grew bigger.

"However, now we get to the critiques." And Ash's smile fell. "The first few are easy, not enough move diversity or power. But we'll skip over the obvious there. However, even with your limited moves, head on assaults won't always work. If your Snom has to knock himself out using Mirror Coat in order to do damage, maybe it would be best to find another means of attack." Ash could only nod at that.

"Was there anything else I did wrong?" He asked.

"Yes, but I can't give you every answer. You'll have to figure it out yourself." Was Giovanni's amused reply. "In any case, I promised you something if you managed to hit Rhyperior." They looked over to see Vix animatedly talking to said behemoth, with the other two pokemon sitting nearby. "I did hear about your views on receiving pokemon. So instead, I will simply give you this." In his hand, was a disk. Easily identified as a TM, or Technical Machine, they were used to teach a pokemon the basics of a move so they could use and later master it. "Nothing too big or special. This is a TM for Mud-Slap. I figured since your Eevee landed the hit, and is the only one on your team without a move to attack from a distance, she can use this."

"Thank you, sir!" Ash gratefully received the TM. His mother had already bought him a case and machine to use, so he carefully placed it into a slot. With that, the gym leader returned his Rhyperior before he turned to retreat back to his office. Taking the hint, Ash returned his injured team before setting off to the pokemon centre, a big smile on his face.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

After one quick trip to the pokemon centre, combined with one chewing out for getting into trouble by a certain Nurse Joy, and Ash had set off towards Viridian Forest. According to the pokedex, if you were to travel straight through following the path, you would arrive at Pewter city within four days. Ash, however, planned to explore a bit and spend a few days camping inside the forest. He hoped that maybe he could find and catch another rare pokemon within, hearing rumors of strong pokemon hidden deeper inside. As such, he had purchased supplies and food accordingly for about 10 days worth ahead of time, all of it easily stored within his bag.

To this day, the technology within the bag had astounded him. Using the same research principles as pokeballs, these bags could store tons of items within them, yet different as it was unable to absorb certain items or things over a certain size. Every trainer had some variation of them, and sorted their items differently. Ash himself had a regular sized bag split into 5 separate pockets, which he assigned different categories. The first, and largest slot, was for food and berries for obvious purpose. The second, was for general pokemon items such as potions, antidotes and the like. Another was used to hold all his uninhabited pokeballs for quick access. A fourth held all his "key items" as he called it, containing things such as cooking equipment and his Technical Machine. The last slot was filled with general household needs, such as clothes, soap and other utilities. Wearing the same thing for an entire year sounded very gross.

Arriving at the checkpoint at around 2pm, Ash finally entered the forest. Just seeing it from outside, he already knew that it would be big. Yet once he entered the forest properly, he realized just how massive the forest probably was. Realizing he had yet to release his pokemon, he did so to allow them to take in the sights as well. Frost on release, took a quick look around and clicked softly before climbing up Ash's arm and taking his spot. Zephyr let out a happy chirp, before flying up and resting on a nearby perch. Vix was simply happy to be out of her ball, and started bound off to a nearby patch of flowers. "Hey! Don't wander off too far!" He called out to the excited fox, receiving a faint yip in return as she continued forward, off into the trees. He sighed before looking up at Zephyr. "Please keep an eye on her." He received a chirp full of amusement, before she lifted off and followed the young fox. Looking at Frost, who dutifully kept watch on his shoulder, he shook his head before beginning to chase after them.

A couple hours later and Ash decided to call a quick break for lunch, having not eaten previously at the pokemon centre. So far nothing of note had happened while travelling so far. This close to the exit, most of the pokemon weren't found. At most Zephyr had defender her position from a Spearow, and Vix had startled a nearby Rattata who had been minding their own business. He was surprised to have not yet seen a Weedle or Caterpie that were so common in the forest. He supposed that they wouldn't be near the entrance where less cover would make them easy pickings from any wild bird pokemon.

As he set up a small camp, he pulled out three small bowls and some regular pokefood for his team. Without a doubt, Ash realized that if he started his journey at 10, he probably would have only stuck with the prepackaged trainer meals. While edible, they were more like rations, with bland taste and very little selection. With the four extra years that was given, he had asked his mom to help him learn how to cook. While not being a master chef in the kitchen like his mother, he was a quick learner, and in no time learned different recipes that he could make, even if they were fairly simple. His most favourite and best prepared dish he learned would happen to be what the Galar region was most known for, curry. Watching various videos online, he knew that there were different tastes and flavours that each pokemon preferred, being Spicy, Bitter, Sour, Dry, and Sweet. However until he managed to buy some berries, or start foraging in the wild, he wouldn't be able to find out his teams preferred taste. He could make some educated guesses however. An eventual fire-type like Zephyr would probably enjoy a spicy flavour, compared to the ice/bug-type that Frost was. Most likely the Snom would probably enjoy something bitter or sour instead. And he had a pretty good feeling that Vix enjoyed her sweet food.

His team eagerly bit into their respective meals, while Ash took the time to make a simple sandwich. Nothing special, but he wouldn't want to start a fire now since they would probably be moving on soon. While setting up however, he heard a quick yip and turned to see Vix running off with a piece of salami that he was preparing. With a roll of his eyes, he let the sneaky fox enjoy her spoils, before shifting to make sure she was within view while making his own lunch. They heartily ate their meal, and Ash decided that today would mark their first real training session.

"Right, today we're actually going to be doing some training!" He announced to his pokemon. "For today, I'm going to be working one on one with each of you for around an hour. We'll be going over what I want you to be learning next, and practicing that during our time together. Frost, you'll be up first." A happy click and a small whine were the response to that. He turned to the obviously complaining Eevee. "Don't be like that. If Zephyr is okay with it, you can go second." Vix turned towards the bird, who gave an eye-roll and nodded. "Besides, when I'm not working with you one on one, I want the other two to be sparring. Don't go full power, but don't slack off either alright?" At nods from all three pokemon, he nodded too. "Right, come on Frost."

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

"So, what I want from you, is a little more power." Ash started, looking down into his pokedex. He looked up towards Frost, who was paying him his full attention. "Right now, you only know Powder Snow as an ice move. I want you to get used to harnessing the power of the ice within you, and eventually upgrade that into Icy Wind. Since there's not much knowledge of it, many have speculated that learning to better harness your ice abilities help to speed up your metamorphosis process. Plus it will help you learn how to use ice manipulation later." Frost tilted his head at that. Not many Frosmoth existed in the wild, but the ones who did always knew Icy Wind so maybe it was the truth. "For now, I want you to use Powder Snow, and focus on using your inner power to make it colder. I want you to hold it until you freeze the bark around the tree. Spread and distance can come later once you've figured out the power behind it first."

And so Frost's training began. Focusing upon his power, he took a deep breath before blowing out a cold wind, trying to take note of the temperature used. After about 3 minutes he stopped when the tree he was striking finally started to freeze. "Alright, that was good but it still wasn't a proper Icy Wind." It was true too. Rather than purely freezing the tree, a small bit of snow scattered the nearby floor. "Try again. Colder this time." And he did. This time, the range was not near as far, but the tree froze a few seconds faster. It was improvement in the right direction though. "Nice work. One more time!" A few more seconds were shaved off the time to freeze. Noticeably less snow was starting to form from the attack, but still some was landing near the tree. Icy Wind, when used properly, would let him freeze things into straight blocks of ice quickly, rather than leaving snow as residue of keeping the technique up for long. With the rate at Frost was improving, he figured it would take at least a few days of daily practice before he could use it from standing still.

He turned his head briefly to watch the spar between his two girls. Zephyr was diving in and out using tackle, while Vix was dodging around and trying to retaliate before the Fletchling could properly ascend. Whenever the bird would fire off an Ember, the fox would use Detect to avoid it, if the glint in her eyes was any clue. That kept it at an even fight, neither having any means of distance fighting with Ember out of the picture. With their respective abilities also increasing their speed, they matched each other blow for blow.

He felt a soft cold wind blow on his arm, and turned to see a mildly annoyed Frost at losing a bit of his time training. "Relax." Ash said, rolling his eyes. "I was just giving you a bit of a break. But if you're so into it, then show me one more time!"

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

Vix stared up at him curiously, before shaking her head at his question.

"Really?" He asked again. "No idea at all?" The same motion was repeated to him. "Well, can't say I don't blame you." Wanting to figure out how to best train Vix, he asked the fox a question he hoped would (but always knew wouldn't) be easy. Which evolution she might pursue. Depending on which evolution she would choose, Ash could start trying to teaching her either type oriented moves, or moves that would benefit from her evolution. Instead, Ash shook his head, before pulling out the TM that Giovanni has given him. The Eevee perked up, recognizing the item that was given to him.

"This is a TM." He started to explain. "I've never actually used one myself, but it's used to teach you a new move. Since you landed the hit, you get the prize." The Eevee shifted back nervously. "Don't worry, I swear it won't hurt. Trust me, okay?" She did, so she stood still, as Ash brought the machine to her head and activated it. The machine whirred for a few seconds, before the once brown disk lost its color and turned to a dull grey. "Did it work?" Vix looked confused for a second, before nodding enthusiastically. "Alright, then use Mud-Slap on that tree!"

Vix took a small dash forward, before digging her front paws into the ground, and bringing the right upwards, sending mud shooting towards the target. It hit with a _thud_, the dirt sticking to the tree before slowly sliding down. Vix stared at the attack for a moment, gears turning inside her head. Before she perked up, and Ash _swore_ he felt a shiver down his back, yet he also knew Frost was currently sparring with Zephyr.

"Why do I feel like this was a bad idea?" Ash said aloud. He quickly dove to the side, seeing a small clump of mud land where he just stood. "Vix, please don't!" He pleaded.

Vix gave off a smile.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

Zephyr looked at Ash and tilted her head slightly, eyes filled with mirth.

"Please, don't be like Vix."

A chirp that sounded _strangely_ like a laugh was his answer the that. Ash shook his shirt slightly, bits of mud falling off, before sighing. Tonight, he would have to find a river to camp out nearby, so he could properly clean off. He turned to look at the cause of all this, who was having target practice with Frost. The bug was swinging from tree to tree, dodging the Mud-Shots from Vix. Midair, he was using Powder Snow, or his inferior version of Icy Wind anyways, forcing the Eevee to dodge as well.

"Anyways, just like Frost, I want you to work on your Ember. You need to work on better harnessing, and increasing the strength of your inner flame. Eventually, I want to have you learn Flamethrower, so you have a better distance move. But learning how to properly use your inner flame will help ypu learn Flame Charge down the line too." At a nod of encouragement, Ash looked over at a nearby boulder. "Since the forest is slightly flammable, I want you to keep using Ember on this rock. Focus on strengthening the amount you can pull out at once."

The bird obliged, sending out a puff of fire towards the rock. It smothered harmlessly against it, the flames themselves less than when Vix had used helping hand. "Again." Another fired, the same size. "One more try!" The same result. "Let's try something different. Close your eyes. Try to focus on finding your inner fire." Zephyr closed her eyes. She focused intently, until she felt that familiar feeling of fire within her and gave a small chirp. "Now, instead of bringing it out, spread it throughout your body." So she tried. It was hard to do, focusing on the feeling of letting it spread within her. Slowly but surely, she could feel the heat spread to every part of her. "Ember, now!" She opened her beak to let out an Ember, but instead, she felt her outer body ignite in a thin layer of flames. Ash quickly backed up, and she squawked in panic, before the flames went out with the loss of focus.

"I uhh... Think we started working on Flame Charge by accident..." Ash said. "I just thought that if you spread it through your body, it would better flow through you not..." He shook his head. "We'll keep that in mind for later. Now that you know that feeling of spreading your inner flame, try focusing it just to your beak." With a nod, Zephyr tried again. This time, the Ember came out noticeably bigger, just about the size when used with helping hand. "Great! Now again!"

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

It was now closer to night time, and Ash had just finished setting up camp. As luck would have it, he was able to find a small stream nearby, which he would be able to use to clean off his clothes. Having swapped out his ruined clothes with a plain white t-shirt and cargo shorts, he was now getting ready to make dinner for the group. He heard Vix give off a giggle when he stared at his hanging clothes which were out to dry.

Turning, he looked over at said fox who was curled up near the fire that he made. And by he made, he meant gathered tinder and logs for which Zephyr could do the hard part for him. The Eevee was drying off herself, as Ash had seen it fit to take revenge for her initial prank on him, and had splashed her earlier while cleaning his clothes. Vix took it in stride, giggling all the while, even jumping into said stream to try and splash him back. Zephyr had taken perch in a nearby tree and took it upon herself to keep watch. Frost was nearby, hanging underneath her perch, making it look like a single large icicle was left on the branch.

Just as he was about to start on dinner, he heard Zephyr give off a chirp. When he looked, he saw her staring in one direction. From the bushes came a blonde boy, roughly about one year older than him. He was wearing an orange and white striped shirt, with jeans and a green scarf around his neck. Considering it was quite warm in Kanto right now, he was wondering how the kid wasn't sweating right now. As the kid walked closer, Ash started to greet him. "Hey, wha-"

"You!" The boy interrupted. "You stole my camping site!"

Whatever Ash thought he was going to say, that definitely wasn't it. "I'm sorry?"

"Yeah! I was gonna camp here first! For stealing my spot, I'm gonna have to fine you!"

Ash was even more confused than before. "Hold on, _who_ are you?"

"My name's Barry, and I'm gonna be the winner of the Indigo League!" The blonde boasted.

"Okay, Barry. Why do you need this spot in particular?" Ash asked him.

"Haven't you heard the rumors?" At Ash's shake of the head, Barry continued. "Supposedly there's a _really_ strong pokemon that lives in these parts. I'm gonna catch it!" He paused, before gasping and turning on Ash. "That's why you're here! You're going to catch that pokemon aren't you!"

"If I _just _learned of it from you, how would I have known to come here?" Ash questioned the blonde.

"That's _obviously_ an excuse! I'll have to battle you for the area then!" Barry shouted.

"Hang on, you can't just battle me for this spot! I was here first! Plus I'm already set up!" Ash exclaimed exasperated.

"Yeah? How many badges you got?"

"None, I just started."

"Well, I have _one_, so as the senior pokemon trainer, you _have_ to listen to me and leave!"

"That's... Not how it works at all..." Ash was very tired of this conversation already. He was just as headstrong as Gary, it seemed.

"So, are you battling for this spot or not?" Barry asked impatiently.

"Know what, sure." Ash sighed. "Why not. Not like I wanted to relax or anything." With that signal, Frost and Vix trailed over to his side, while Zephyr simply stayed on her perch from above. "How do you want to do this? I only have three pokemon and I'd rather keep at least one acti-"

"Perfect! I have three too! A three on three then!" Barry interrupted again.

"Did you not hear what I just-"

"Go, Piplup!" That answered his unasked question. When the light died down, a small blue and white penguin was formed. The small bird looked up with a battle ready face and chirped out a challenge.

"Right, who wants this one?" He asked his team. He knew about Frost's dedication and Zephyr seemed to start establishing a mother-like tendency. However it was Vix who stepped up first, hopping in front of him in a battle ready stance.

And with an unspoken signal, both pokemon jumped into action.

"Piplup, get him with a Peck!" The small penguin dashed forwards, before their beak started to glow. Vix waited for them to approach, still dashing towards him, before diving out ot the way last second. When the attack missed her, she slipped around and used a Mud-Shot, hitting the bird in the back and causing them to stumble. One thing Ash had learned about the Eevee was she was _d__efinitely_ tricky. She would have her own tactics to employ, so he didn't need to input anything quite yet.

"Piplup! Get up and use Bubble!" The bird firing off a barrage of bubbles at Vix, who barely ducked out of the way in time. "Again! Don't let up!" Shot after shot came firing towards her, who kept dodging as best as she could, before one caught her in the tail causing her to trip slightly and fall, the rest landing upon her.

"Vix, get closer! Tackle!" The fox was up on her feet, before dashing forwards in an ever changing pattern to dodge the constant flow of bubbles heading towards her.

"Bide! Take it!" The penguin started glowing, before Vix ran in and hit them with a Tackle. It knocked the Piplup back, before they started glowing brighter. "Release!" Piplup shouted in glory, the stored energy being released in a beam towards Vix.

"Detect, quickly!" He didn't even need to command it, as before the beam got close enough, a glint in her eyes and she slid to the side, the attack barely grazing her and firing off towards the trees. A few disturbed Ratatta ran out of the bushes away from the blast centre. "Mud-Shot, again!" Another shot of Mud was sent towards the penguin, who jumped to the side just in time to avoid it.

By now, both of the pokemon were panting, still mostly unused to battling constantly. But both were still capable of battling. "Vix, keep your speed lower to trick them, and go for a Tackle. When you get closer, go for a quick burst of speed." At a nod, the Eevee set off. She made a show of keeping her speed slower, and seeming to be more tired. To any skilled trainer, it was fairly obvious.

But to Barry, it was an opening.

"She's tired! Finish it with a Pound to Peck combo!" The Piplup in all its glory, rushed forwards. He got forwards, and was able to land the Pound, knocking the Eevee back slightly, and went to finish her with a glowing beak. Before it landed, however, Vix glew with the familiar white glow of Quick Attack, and dashed past the bird, before knocking him down. Before they could get back up, she finished him with a full force Tackle, knocking the penguin back to his trainer.

"Piplup! Get up!" The bird tried, but buckled under its flippers and fell over, knocked out. With a sigh, he recalled the Piplup, before glaring daggers at Ash. "You cheated! She wasn't tired at all!"

"Really?" Ash raised an eyebrow. "It's part of strategy. Nothing is ever going to work off brute force alone."

"I'll show you! Starly, get them!"

Another Sinnoh native burst from the ball. The black and white bird was around half of Zephyr's height, spread their wingspan and cawed out a challenge.

"Vix, return." The Eevee looked back and tilted her head. She was panting, but still looked ready for battle. "You don't have many moves to fight them midair. Zephyr will fare better." A nod, before she came back and sat down nearby.

"Hey, you can't return your pokemon!" Barry called out.

"Why not?"

"Those aren't the rules!"

"And when did we say that?" Ash asked. When Barry opened his mouth, he cut him off. "We didn't. You started this before I was even ready. So Vix will take a break."

"Grrr! Starly! Get that bird!" Before Zephyr had even lifted off her perch to join the battle, the black and white bird dashed forwards, knocking her off and backwards. She was able to realign herself in midair, before giving chase in the skies.

"Hey! That was a cheap shot!" Ash yelled out.

"So? Your pokemon was already out! Starly, use Wing Attack!" The smaller bird turned, and charged at Zephyr wings glowing white.

"Dodge, and use Ember!" As the Starly came closer, Zephyr ducked into a dive, narrowly avoiding the attack, before turning around and firing a small burst of flame. Starly was barely able to dodge it, but the attack still singed a few feathers on her left wing. "Follow up with Quick Attack!"

"Starly, Quick Attack too! Outspeed it!" Both birds took on a familiar white glow, before shooting off towards each other. They collided in the air, with Zephyr's larger size giving her the edge in that particular bout. The Starly was knocked backwards, before flying off to gain some distance. Zephyr didn't allow that, shooting off and giving chase. Both birds were considerably fast, but Zephyr with her Gale Wings ability was faster, and knocked the bird down to the ground.

"Starly! Get up buddy, I know you can do it!" The bird struggled for a moment, before getting up and shrieking in fury. Then, the bird started to glow white. That couldn't be good for Ash. It took a few seconds, but in the white glow, the smaller bird changed and got bigger, now matching the size of Zephyr at 2'. When the light died down, the newly evolved Staravia spread his wings and chirped out another challenge.

"Yeah! Get them Staravia! Fury Attack!" The black and white bird was faster now, flying and catching up to Zephyr before jabbing at her repeatedly with their beak.

"Zephyr! Quick Attack! Get out of there!"

"Chase em! Take them down!" Again, both birds shot off in a white glow. This time, it was Zephyr being chased, and similarly knocked down into the ground.

"Ember! Quickly!" She complied, getting up before firing a few quick shots of flame. The Staravia simply ducked around it, before diving in with another Wing Attack, one which the Fletchling barely dodged by taking off into the sky once more.

"It's faster now, you're gonna have to take it head on! Tackle!"

"Fury Attack! Show it they're no match for you!"

Both birds turned to each other, before dashing towards the other. Zephyr, in that moment had an idea. Focusing her energy as fast as she could, she spread it through her body. With a shriek herself, she lit herself, and a bastardized version of Flame Charge came out. The two pokemon collided in the air, a small explosion of flame following before both landed in a buff of smoke and dust.

"Zephyr!"

"Staravia!"

It was a tense few seconds, but when the dust cleared, neither pokemon were able to battle. Both pokemon were knocked out, and the Staravia's feathers were burnt and singed in many places.

Ash was the first to return his pokemon, mumbling a quiet "Good Work." to the ball before clipping it to his belt. Barry returned his pokemon as well, before taking his last pokeball from his waist.

"You're gonna get it now! Ponyta, take them down!" The small horse pokemon formed, their mane and tail of flames lighting up the immediate area. Ash only just realized how dark it had gotten already. Frost didn't wait for Ash to call him forward, already expecting it. The bug swung off his branch and landed in front of him, prepared to battle. Ash bit his lip, the fire type was easily his worst match up, but Vix was still tired from her fight.

"What the heck is that?" Barry asked.

"A Snom." Was Ash's simple reply.

"Whatever it is, it's going down! Ponyta, Ember!" The horse didn't comply, instead turning her head away from her trainer. Ash raised an eyebrow at that. "Ponyta! Did you hear me? I said Ember!" She still did nothing, simply ignoring the calls. "Listen to me already, will you!"

Ash coughed lightly, getting Barry's irate attention. "Do you uhh... need a minute?"

"Shut up! I can handle this!" The boy shouted, before turning to Ponyta, hand held together in a prayer. "Can you please battle for me? _Please_?" The horse looked his way for a couple of seconds, a smile starting to form on Barry's face, before the horse looked away with a snort, before it _returned_ itself. Barry's face started to turn red at that.

"Does this mean I win?" Was a smirking Ash's question.

"Shut up! What's your name!"

"Ash. Ash Ketchum."

"Yeah, well guess what Ash_ Ketchup_. You're now my rival!" The boy shouted. He then pointed at him. "And next time, I'll win!" Then he was off, running into the woods. Ash sighed. Just what he needed. Another Gary. He looked over at his team, Vix curled up by the fire again and Frost looking very confused before roping back to the tree to hang as an icicle again, before he walked back towards his stuff to prepare dinner. He'd take care of Zephyr's injuries once he was fed.

It was just like him to attract all the crazies.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

**A/N- ****Few points I wanted to get out.**

**1\. Wes isn't _really_ story important. Exists for 3 reasons.**

**-Prove Orre happened **

**-Exposition that Jesse/James are competent, but went easy**.

**-Get Vix earlier (Was likely to be Celadon otherwise.)**

**2\. Story will be updated once every atleast 2 weeks. Unless something happens** **like classes overwhelm me.**

**3\. I love writing Vix**.

**4\. People sometimes write Paul in. I decided to do Barry because Gary covers the serious/wants to be strongest. Barry feels more comic relief/filler fights to me.** **Though Paul still might show up.**

**5\. More bugs are on the way. Likely next chapter. Maybe its that_ strong pokemon_ Barry hinted at. Seems too easy. But yeah atleast 2/3 of his team will be bugs. No max past 12 is determed for team yet tho.**

**I would _ideal__ly_ like to have at least 10k words per** **chapter.**

**That's all from me. o7**


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